A 60-year-old former Florida man who was deemed a registered sex offender and is required to register his address for life was arrested on Friday by Liberty County Sheriff’s Investigator Zack Harkness at a home on CR 341 in the Rancho San Vicente Subdivision off of Plum Grove Road south of Cleveland.
According to a statement from Sheriff Bobby Rader, Enrique Jose Ramos-Torres reportedly absconded from the State of Florida nine years ago and failed to register as a sex offender upon his arrival in Texas.
Harkness obtained a felony arrest warrant for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. There also is a felony warrant from the State of Florida for his arrest for failing to register.
In addition to being a sex offender, Ramos was also listed as a missing person from the State of Florida. Reports were that he had been kidnapped from the Miami, Fla., area in 2011. While in Texas, Ramos reportedly has been using an alias in order to conceal his true identity.
“With the help of another Liberty County department, Investigator Harkness was able to locate and positively identify Ramos. A request for assistance from Cleveland ISD Police Department and the East Montgomery County Strategic Response Team was made,” the sheriff’s statement continues.
Ramos was arrested without incident and transported to the Liberty County Jail. His bond is set at $50,000.
Good job!
What I am not hearing is that this man has committed another sex offense. Because this man was on the registry in Florida, he automatically is put on for life — Florida is one of only several states that does this. Florida also keeps on their registry anyone who visits Florida for 3 or more days and then returns to their home state. Even if their name is removed from the registry in their home state, their name will NEVER be removed from the Florida registry.
Law enforcement and some in the media like to make people feel that if someone fails to register, then they have become a highly dangerous person. The laws that accompany the registry are what makes some people “disappear” as the laws are so draconian and are only becoming more so each year.
In Florida, there are very few places this man could have lived. Many in the Miami area where this man came from are homeless. It is so bad that CNN made a documentary on it a few years ago. In Florida, there are 160 different counties/municipalities where registrants cannot live within 2500 feet of schools and other places that children congregate.
All research is showing a low re-offense rate for people on the registry, including with the U. S. Department of Defense. Additionally, 90% of FUTURE sex offenses are committed by people NOT on the registry. 93% or victims know their perpetrators.
Society would be so much better off if it would use empirically validated risk assessments and only focus resources on monitoring the truly dangerous. Nothing in this article shows this man is still a danger to society anymore.